Name: The Most Talked About Stand Up Set of the Last Decade
Uploaded: 2022-07-18T17:44:23.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'The Most Talked About Stand Up Set of the Last Decade' from I'm not Norm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-07-18. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'The Most Talked About Stand Up Set of the Last Decade' from I'm not Norm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-07-18. Transcript available.

Your last letterman with the World War I and II bit.
I have never heard more comics talk about a bit.
And I heard that you put a lot of work into that.
God damn right.
But didn't he do the Hitler bit too about it?
No.
So many challenges, the world.
And then they fought the world again.
Yeah, those are, isn't Hitler a comedy killer though?
Wouldn't that be one of those things?
Oh, are you kidding me?
Hitler's like, there's no comedy killer nowadays.
You know what I mean?
Not anymore?
I feel like just the opposite.
I feel like there's almost fake shock sometimes where it's like people, you
know what I mean?
So it's like, that's almost like a comedy helper in some ways.
Right.
Not the way Norm did it.
That was a different bit.
But he had a great joke about like, I don't know if you guys are here.
He goes, I got no problem with, you know, North Korea.
I never lay in bed.
They try to scare you on the news, you know?
But I never woke up like, ah, North Korea.
How they don't get me, you know?
And like, nobody really laughed.
But did you hear Letterman like cackling in the background?
And you realize it's just the same.
With Norm, it's all, you are being fucking played.
When you think he's bombing, it's all a big set up to the fucking, in a year,
he's going
to have the perfect special ever.
You might as well sit with Norm and just keep a smile on your face because you
don't know
where you are in the joke.
There is one country that worries me, though.
Not Iraq, not Iran, not North Korea.
The only country that really worries me is the country of Germany.
I don't know if you guys are history buffs or not, but...
Well, I did see that Norm was Letterman's choice to be his last stand-up.
I thought that was pretty neat.
That was a funny bit, too, about World War II.
Well, the funniest bit, I thought, of Norm's that he said was how your phones
change everything
now.
Right.
That a picture, he's got one grainy picture of his great-grandfather, like
separating the
hogs on the farm.
Right.
But now, because everybody's got a phone right now, somebody from years from
now, here's
one million pictures of my great-grandfather doing everything in their life.
And Norm's face when he did his grandfather.
He's just horrified, horrified that someone's taking his picture.
Just looking like, in shock, like, I'm going to take my picture.
Yeah.
Oh, that was a great bit.
I know.
I got a picture of my great-grandfather.
I think it took six hours to take your picture, and it was a picture of my
great-grandfather,
one.
They only had, every guy had one picture back then.
And it was just him, like, I got to get back, feed them hogs.
Who's going to feed the hogs?
So my next big hero after Letterman's got to be Norm MacDonald.
What did you learn about his set for his last appearance?
Well, that is, hands down, every single person that I talked to.
I asked them what their favorite appearance is.
And, like, no joke, Norm MacDonald was what everyone pointed to.
So, and my editor kept saying, you've got to cut this down.
Like, it's just over and over again of people saying Norm's great.
And I was like, no, it really was that good.
Like, it has to be the longest part of the book.
Nice.
Now I'm really going to get the book.
That's awesome.
And so, Jerry Foley.
He was lying to you before.
Now he's really going to get the book.
Yeah, yeah, now.
And, well, that's because I said I never send them for free.
So, now it's like, yeah.
I mean, I know I'm supposed to.
It kills my publicist.
We're off topic already.
But my publicist keeps saying, you know, like, Iowa Station wants to do a thing.
Send them a book.
And I'm like, what?
I have to pay for those.
Anyway, back to Norm.
Jerry Foley was the director on The Late Show.
And he said that Norm showed up, like, super early.
Like, way earlier than anyone would.
And he didn't want to tell anyone what he was going to do, what his monologue
was going to be about.
And he was just sort of walking around, just, like, soaking in the building
because he wanted to spend as much time as he could there.
And so, and they were kind of concerned because you don't know what he's going
to do.
And they have to be sure Dave will like it, you know.
And so he kind of took him aside.
And he said he didn't really know Norm very well.
Like, he didn't have some bond with him.
But he said, you know, you've got to kind of share with me what you're going to
do today so we can help you.
And it kind of opens up this notebook.
And it is napkins and, like, receipts and all of these notepads where they said
they could just tell he had been working on it forever.
Oh, wow.
And even, like, in the cab over, he said, well, and I just came up with this.
And I don't know if you guys remember his set, but I think it's the best stand-up
set that's ever been performed on late-night television.
I definitely agree.
And did Dave like it?
Yeah.
I mean, Dave was really embarrassed by it in a good way.
But, I mean, he just couldn't believe because Norm breaks down crying in the
set.
I mean, that's crazy in itself.
And he told them he loved him.
Norm told Dave.
And, you know, Dave doesn't really like that stuff.
And I think Bill Sheff says, like, Dave just doesn't want to hear that kind of
stuff.
But it's true.
Yeah.
Norm Macdonald was just on David Letterman.
I heard he cried.
He was so upset.
He cried, and it was, like, really, like, beautiful.
Yeah.
A lot of people remember back in May when Letterman retired, you were one of
the last guests, and you got pretty choked up.
It was a pretty emotional time, wasn't it?
No, Letterman, I think Letterman, like, he was my hero, but I think he was
everybody's hero.
He changed the way people talk in America, and, you know, he really helped me
when other people didn't like me.
You did a poetic goodbye to David Letterman, did you not?
Well, I did.
This is what I did.
I wanted to do stand-up because I did stand-up on his show 25 years ago.
And so I did stand-up.
And I did the best stand-up I could possibly do.
And then I did a joke that I remember David Letterman doing when I was young.
That still remains my favorite joke.
And then I got a little teary.
I choked up.
I didn't realize I was going to choke up.
And then I certainly didn't realize I was going to tell him I love him.
I said I love you.
He was emotional at saying goodbye to you on the show.
At the time when, like Conan suggests, I didn't know he was ill, so surprised.
And in thinking about that moment, he must have known a great deal about what
his future was
and how long it might have been.
I always took it as an enormous compliment that my emotional situation had
affected him.
Right, right.
But now, to be fair, this guy knew more than just I was leaving.
Take me on a journey Take me far away from this life
I leave it in a hurry Let's run away before and more
As I'd just like to say, I know that Mr. Letterman is not for the mawkish
And he has no truck for the sentimental
But if something is true, it is not sentimental
And I say in truth, I love you
Oh, my God
Very funny, Norm
And thank you
Thank you for everything
Thank you
Norm MacDonald, ladies and gentlemen
That was very sweet, Norm
Oh, thank you